Christoph Irmscher directs the Wells Scholars Program at Indiana University Bloomington, where he is also distinguished professor of English. Among his many books are The Poetics of Natural History and Louis Agassiz: Creator of American Science. For more information, visit http: //christophirmscher.com. Richard J. King is visiting associate professor of maritime literature and history at the Sea Education Association in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. He is the author, most recently, of Ahab’s Rolling Sea: A Natural History of "Moby-Dick." For more information, visit http: //www.richardjking.info/.